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Monday, 30 June 2014

It's been quite sometime since I reviewed anything by Toyworld. The last was TW-03 BII in January. Let us move on to their new offering, TW-H03 Swamper (Not-Skullcruncher), the first Decepticon Headmaster from Toyworld.

Pic Credit : TFWiki

In The Headmasters cartoon series, Skullcruncher was among the group small Cybertronians who flew out to escape the never ending war, under the command on Fortress [Maximus].Crashing on Planet Master, the crew fight for survival on the planet which resulted them building a larger, lifeless Transformer bodies called Transtectors.

After rigorous physical and mental training, the crew manage to master this new technology and became the Headmasters. However, Skullcruncher and several others rebelled against Fortress and sided with the traitor, Scorponok.

Friday, 27 June 2014

Watched the premier of Transformers Age of Extinction with fellow TransMYian on June 25th and wasn't disappointed to be honest. But to make it clear, I'm not a Bayformers fanboy not am I a hardcore Geewuner. Been enjoying all thing Transformers from all the series, the comic books (IDW, Marvel, Dreamwave) and few other medias.

Pic Credit: Web

Never intended to write anything about it but stumble upon a review that shockingly gave AoE some 'harsh' critiques which to me only partially true and the best part, putting something like

" 'I'm also quite sure the old-time fans
would be disappointed with bla bla bla "

This won't be a proper review, just few points I like to let out. Let us begin but first, MAJOR SPOILER ALERT!

Negative

1 - The movie is quite too long for my taste, nearing 3 hours. Felt that some parts can either be excluded or compacted

2 - Galvatron is one of favourite character in Transformers universe, but Bay should've at least waited a bit as Megatron has been dead and brought back to life for quite few times already. TF5 maybe?

3 - Hate the new Decepticons way of transforming

Positive

1 - Human characters aren't as annoying as the previous 3. Mark Wahlberg played his character well. AoE changed the movie franchise from spastic comedy party into having more mature atmosphere.

2 - More robot screen time!

3 - Better storyline than the previous 3 and it seems Bay did some homework this time. In case people are wondering, here are some homages that could be found in the movie

Flat-cab truck that Optimus Prime transform into in the beginning of the movie is a homage to Generation 1 Optimus Prime

Lockdown role as a bounty hunter, just like when he debuted in Transformers universe during Animated.

The resurrection of Megatron is based on the storyline of TF Animated where he trick Dr Sumdac into building his new body.

Having the Dinobots fossilized reminded me of IDW Spotlight : Shockwave. Hope there'll be detail explanation of why the Dinobots were there in the first place.

The alliance with Dinobots was nicely done. Personally, better than it was in G1 and Animated

The human-created Transformers reminded me of the fate of Sunstreaker in IDW Devastation series.

The 'creator' that was mentioned by Lockdown might end up end up with 2 possibilities. (1), the Quintesson or better yet, (2) Unicron [and be default, hopefully, Primus]

The first time in the franchise that the story heading somewhere, a bigger arc. Rodimus and the cast of 86 maybe?

Transformers Movie franchise was never 'phenomenal' from the start. There are ok parts and some bad parts. However, found out that AoE currently being targeted with thoughtless reviews which is kind of weird. However, as the fan of Transformers Franchise (not just someone who suddenly knows everything about Transformers after watching the 4 live action movies ie "his childhood"), I find that AoE is better than what I expected.

I get that people say not all reviewers a fan of a certain franchise etc. True, there's a lot of reviewers know Transformers from the movies only, no more. However, I would've been better if they some homework just to have a basic idea. Why? Because they are reviewer. Is it right if I reviewed a Generations figure then complaint there is no die-cast parts? If you decide to do a review of anything, there must be at least some knowledge of it.

Let say I watch a love story which ends with both the main characters died, no happy ending. Is it right if I say it sucks and a stupid movie when it's an adaptation of "Romeo and Juliet"?

Tuesday, 17 June 2014

This is one review that I've been dreading to do for reasons that I'll explain later. Once in a while, Hasbro choose to release few obscure characters that are sometimes even fans are unfamiliar with. They did that back in 2011 for example, with the release of Generations Darkmount, Sky Shadow and Thunderwing.

For 2014, Hasbro released Generations Autobot Scoop, a character that is new even for me.

Pic Credit : TFWiki

Scoop is an Autobot Targetmaster, the 4th Autobot Targetmasters to be released under CHURG after United Stepper, Artfire and Henkei Strafe. Known as one of the best field infantries, Scoop uses both cool-headed logic and battle-hardened tactics to fight and crush his enemies on the battlefield. I have no idea in which media did Scoop first appeared but he's in Marvel continuity, Generation 2 and also the more recent IDW Generation 1, among others.

Thursday, 12 June 2014

One would thought that Beast Wars was the most unorthodox and controversial Transformers franchise when it was aired in the 90's. But then 1999 came in and we have Beast Machines (BM), a 26-episodes sequel to Beast Wars.

Season 1 of BM focused on the Maximals (Optiumus Primal, Rattrap, Cheetor and Blackarachnia) being back on Cybertron...but not the Cybertron as they know it. All that's left is a deserted Cybertron with streets patrolled by mindless Vehicon Drones serving Megatron and at the same time, the Maximals are infected with a deadly virus that'll kill them. The problem was solved with the help of a supercomputer, the Oracle which reformats them into technorganic bodies.

On the other hand, we have Drones serving Megatron evil plan, specifically Tank Drones, lead by the tank general, Tankor. Tankor along with the other Vehicon Generals, leads Megatron mindless army in keeping the planet under control and to fight against the Maximals.

Pic Credit : TFWiki

Tankor and the other generals are the only ones granted sparks, as opposed to normal drones. Tankor fought again and again with the Maximals, holding onto Megatron's promise of "fabulous prize to be won!" for getting them into captivity. And the Maximals anything they can to defend themselves from Tankor brutal attacks. However, much to their dismay, Tankor turns out to be their beloved comrade that fought side-by-side with them during the Beast Wars, Rhinox

Pic Credit : TFWiki

Rhinox was one of the unlucky ones during Maximals' returned to Cybertron. Unlike the Transmetals that were able to stay mobile for a short period, Rhinox was held captive by Megatron and had his spark forcibly removed. The spark was later used to power Tankor, the tank general with hope that the Maximals will be less willing to fight him. But Megatron failed to foresee that Tankor end up being only slightly more intelligent than the rest of the Tank Drones.

Pic Credit : TFWiki

Despite Optimus Primal attempt to reach Rhinox's spark, he was too late as the spark was already tainted by his time inside Tankor, rejecting the Maximals and supporting Megatron's idea of technologically-pure Cybertron....but only the idea, not Megatron himself. This resulted in a fail coup d-etat and Tankor was killed. Rhinox expressed his regret over his actions when Optimus Primal met him (his Spark) one last time within the Allspark.

Tuesday, 10 June 2014

One thing that I was worried about with the release of Age Of Extinction line : Generations line not reaching Malaysia's shore. It was the case back in 2011 with the last wave of Generations didn't hit the shelves and I got the same feeling this year when even after months it was released, the wave that consist of Deluxe Scoop still nowhere to be seen and the newest wave consisting of Deluxe Rattrap and Tankor might suffer the same fate. Luckily, new stock arrived yesterday with Deluxe Scoop, Armada Starscream, Skywarp, Minicon Assault Team, Tankor and Rattrap altogether in a carton.

Pic Credit : TFWiki

One of the main characters in Beast Wars series and the earliest crew of Maximals, Rattrap is perhaps the most annoying character the Maximals have to deal with, with the constant negativity, sarcasm and being dowright rude to almost everyone even his commanding officer. He's a fine soldier nonetheless, been at the frontline of countless battles between the Predacon and Maximal.

Thursday, 5 June 2014

Next is the last Age of Extinction Dinobots from the first wave and quite frankly my favourite of the three. Scorn was never in any of Transformers universe, not as Scorn-a-dinobot nor as Scorn in general.

Wednesday, 4 June 2014

Having a kid really change my schedule. This isn't a complaint but never in my whole life that I left new figures unopened for more than 2 days (aside from my Henkei Crystal Convoy, that baby is still MISB)

To continue, next is another familiar character, Deluxe Age of Extinction Dinobot Slug or to be exact, Slag. If I'm not mistaken, the name was changed during Fall of Cybertron.

Sunday, 1 June 2014

TFC seems to be a a roll recently. They were fairly quite after the release of Nemean but starting with Phlogeus, it's been one after another. Conabus was released not one month after Phlogeus and from what I gathered, Atheo will be arriving at my doorstep in 2-3 weeks time.